


Unremarkable

by snowbunnylester (xrosepetalsx)



Category: Phandom/The Fantastic Foursome (YouTube RPF), Video Blogging RPF
Genre: Alternate Universe - High School, High School, M/M, Theater - Freeform
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-04-11
Updated: 2015-04-11
Packaged: 2018-03-22 07:25:45
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,036
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/3720211
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/xrosepetalsx/pseuds/snowbunnylester
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Dan isn’t popular, or unpopular - he’s average. Unremarkable. Flawed. Until he starts receiving encouraging messages in his locker, complimenting him, and giving him the confidence to be himself.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Unremarkable

**Author's Note:**

> **Disclaimer** : In no way to I pretend this is real or cast aspersions on Dan or Phil.
> 
> OMG Eliza wrote something! I feel like I haven’t been able to write much lately for varying reasons, so here I am with some cutesty fluffy stuff for your Phan needs. I hope you guys enjoy this. Based on this prompt ([x](http://phanfic.tumblr.com/post/114870557938)) and written for [darren-fucking-chriss](http://darren-fucking-chriss.tumblr.com) because you seemed like you needed a pick me up and are the only reason I wrote this <3 
> 
> Special thanks to [mostlikelyprocrastinating](http://mostlikelyprocrastinating.tumblr.com) for betaing.

Dan was by no means popular, nor was he by any means unpopular either. He was just average. An ordinary high school student with a good group of friends, and a friendly enough disposition that most of the people he shared classes with gave him a friendly smile in the halls.

Most of the time, he’d hang out with the same group of people day in and day out, making stupid jokes and doing stupid things that made them all look like idiots, true to high school form, but occasionally he’d run into an old acquaintance at lunch, and he’d spend that time catching up with them in the quad with a few snacks shared between them. On days when he was truly desperate, he might hole himself up in the library to get a few last minute projects done, but otherwise, Dan was as social as anyone else.

Still. Despite the relative ease and comfort of his high school life, Dan was still plagued by the same insecurities as the rest of his peers, and while he was comfortable enough with the group of people he spent the majority of his time with, he did not have a best friend to help him work through these insecurities, so he faked it. He faked the confidence and self-assurance that some of the more popular kids possessed, and made it up as he went along, pretending that everything was okay, and that he didn’t have break downs almost every other night over how imperfect he was.

He pretended that he didn’t care if he got up too late to straighten his hair, and had to come to school with his detested hobbit hair. He pretended that it didn’t bother him when his face broke out, or when his voice cracked while he was speaking because he still hadn’t finished puberty and often sounded like a pubescent girl.

He pretended that it didn’t bother him when people called him gay because he liked to dress fashionably, or a twink because he was on the smaller side, despite being over 6ft. He pretended that it didn’t bother him that when he smiled, his cheek caved in to form a crater the size of his thumb, and that all the girls thought it was cute while he thought he was broken.

He pretended that it didn’t bother him that he was seen as nothing more than an obnoxious 16 year old, slightly more annoying than the rest of his year because of his predisposition to be dramatic, and his desire to play the lead role in every play. He pretended that he was normal, and whole, and okay, when the truth of the matter was, he was just as not-okay as every other high schooler in Europe.

The fact of the matter was, Dan was nothing if not particularly unremarkable, and he wasn’t _okay_ with that, but he had come to terms with it. So maybe that was why it came as such a surprise to him, when, one Monday morning, he opened up his locker only to find an innocuous sticky note jammed through the little vents on the outside.

Sucking in a surprised breath of air, Dan did a quick scan of the area around him, and then plucked it out from where it was stuck. It was blue, and bent awkwardly at the corners, with pencil scribbles across its surface. The first thing Dan noticed was the tiny drawing of a lion in the top corner, and then his brain finally took in the words.

‘Red looks incredible on you.’

He had to cast his mind back a couple of weeks to remember when the last time he’d actually worn red _was_ , but when he did, all he could think about was how hard it had been to work up the courage to do so in the first place. The red shirt was still sitting at the bottom of his hamper, out of fear that it had looked terrible on him, and with the promise that he’d never wear it again.

(On Tuesday, Dan did wear it again. His friends were quick to notice, glancing at him with quirked eyebrows, and subtle smirks, giggles escaping past the girl’s lips. Dan didn’t let it get to him, because he felt safest in black, but he was thankful someone had given him the courage to finally wear color.)

\--

Dan wasn’t expecting it to happen again. He’d thought it was a fluke, an accident, a one time thing. But then he’d come to school on Wednesday, and there was another one: green this time, scribbled on in handwriting so unfamiliar that Dan had no chance to guess at who it might be.

‘I’ve never seen someone get quite so into character as you. School plays have been better since you started joining them.’

The words meant a lot to Dan, but he tried not to let it show. He was bewildered, but thankful at the same time, that someone had been thoughtful enough to leave him these little notes, and while he wanted to know who’d sent them, at the same time, he felt like he was better off not knowing.

So he tucked the little note into his pocket, and he went to class, because the bell was about to ring and there were too many students around anyway. He sat through math wishing he could go home, and breathed a little easier, because for once, he didn’t feel quite so alone.

(Thursdays were tryouts, and Dan had never felt so confident that he’d get the lead role. He thought the confidence must have transcended into his performance, because he’d also never felt quite so powerful as he did that afternoon. The wink the theater teacher had sent him at the very end had assured him that things were going to be alright.)

\--

Friday bloomed bright and early, and Dan was at school long before the day was set to begin. He didn’t want to, or expect to catch his secret friend, so he was glad to open his locker only to have a note flutter to the ground. With a grin too big to hide, Dan picked it up off the ground.

‘Have I mentioned how wonderful it is to see you smile? Especially when you think no one’s looking, and you bite your lip in an attempt to hold it back.’

The words reminded Dan that he was smiling, and he bit his lip, immediately dropping his face into his hands to laugh at the ridiculousness of it all – because this person seemed to know him so well, and it was making little butterflies bloom in his stomach.

The halls started to fill up with other students then, so Dan shoved the purple sticky note into his pocket, grabbed his books, and made his way to class.

(For the rest of the day, and all weekend, he caught himself biting his lip to hold back a smile, and he laughed every time he realized it.)

\--

‘I can’t think of one good reason you straighten your hair every day. You look so angelic with those little curls curving around your ears, and cupping your cheeks.’

One of Dan’s friends Michael grabbed the note out of Dan’s hands before he could put it away that Tuesday, and Dan could do nothing but glare as his friend read it and passed it around to the rest of their group. They all laughed, shouting about his hobbit hair and how some girl must be stupid to have a crush on Dan.

He knew they were joking, because that was just what they’d always done – made fun of one another whenever someone else showed the tiniest amount of interest in them – but this time, Dan was mad because these notes were special to him, and now they had been tainted by his so-called friends.

The moment he got the chance too, he snatched the little yellow post it note back, and shoved it into his pocket, turning his back on his friends and storming off.

He’d apologize later, but for now, all hecould think about was how, for once, someone was making him feel good about himself, rather than tearing him down, and it felt so good. His projected confidence often made others think him ego-centric, when the reality was, Dan could see his own flaws much more clearly than anyone else.

(It wasn’t strange that Dan came back from the restroom later that afternoon with wet hair that quickly dried into intense curls. It wasn’t strange at all. His friends didn’t dare say a word, and Dan felt strangely good about himself.)

\--

‘You really have great taste in music. Maybe next time put your headphones in all the way though :)’

For the first time, Dan actually blushed, groaning as he pressed his face into the cold metal of his locker. He was such a socially awkward _idiot_. He wondered how many people had given him funny looks in the halls that he hadn’t actually noticed yesterday.

Well, on the upside, his secret friend had great taste in music as well then, and that Dan could appreciate as he shoved the white sticky note into his pocket.

Today was Thursday, and Dan couldn’t wait for the week to be over. Tomorrow, the Casting List was going up, and Dan was nervous. His friends had been tiptoeing around him since he’d given them the cold shoulder on Tuesday, and overall, Dan just wanted to go home.

He was tired, and the week had been too long, and the happiness each note had brought him was slowly starting to dissipate.

(Dan was extra careful plugging his headphones into his phone that day, despite part of him wishing he could leave them unplugged just to see whose attention he might attract.)

\--

Dan got the lead role, as expected, and he smiled for the rest of the day. The Theater Club met up after school to pick up scripts, and to meet the other actors.

They were performing The Great Gatsby this semester, and the actors were split up into groups to meet with each other one on one for a bit. Dan was placed with the actors for Daisy and Nick for the first 15 minutes, but he couldn’t keep his eyes off of Nick.

He found out that his name was Phil Lester, and he realized very quickly that the other boy had a tendency to hide his eyes behind his fringe. The girl, Carrie Fletcher, kept pushing it out of his face, pinning it back with a bobby pin or two to make him look more like Nick Carraway. Dan couldn’t deny that he looked sexy with his hair pushed back like that.

His eyes were a piercing blue, but they were warm and soft in a way that made Dan feel safe.

Of course, that meant he made an idiot out of himself with every word out of his mouth for the next 15 minutes, and he couldn’t help but feel relieved when it was over.

Somehow, Phil Lester still ended up walking with Dan out to the front of the school.

“I knew you’d get the lead,” he said, his voice quiet but much huskier than Dan’s. Dan was shocked out of his thoughts at the words, and he turned a tentative grin on his co-actor.

“Really? Thanks.”

They continued on in silence. As they made their way past Dan’s locker, Dan sent it an inquisitive look. Part of him wanted to check and see if his secret friend had left him any more messages, while the other part of him wanted to continue walking with Phil.

He hesitated.

Phil cleared his throat.

Dan turned to look at him.

“Here,” Phil said, a splotch of red against his cheeks as he handed Dan a pink sticky note. Before Dan could say anything, it was pressed into his hand, and Phil was gone.

\--

‘The way you looked at me today makes me think you could make anyone feel like the most important person in the world. I hope you realize how amazing a power that is.’

Dan could do nothing but smile.


End file.
